Mystified by You
by Manal
Summary: Lily and James are in their seventh and final year at Hogwarts. Who knows what suprises await them.
1. On Board the Hogwarts Express

Hey! Well, my name's Manal, as you've probably already guessed. Anyways, this is my first ff on ff.net, and so I hope you like it! 

Disclaimer: I own nothing. All the characters (except a few minor ones) belong to the one and only J. K. Rowling.

Chapter One:

*~*~*~*

On board the Hogwarts Express

*~*~*~*

"James! James Potter, get up already!" Mrs. Potter's shrill voice broke the silence of the morning. 

James opened one of his eyes to see what was going on. He sleepily reached for his alarm clock and brought it closer to himself to see what time it was. 

"James! Are you awake? Its already 8!" Mrs. Potter said, knocking on his door rapidly. James got the distinct impression that she had read his mind and put his alarm clock back in its place.

"I'm coming, mum", he said drowsily. He quickly got out of bed and opened the bedroom door to see Mrs. Potter standing with her hands on her hips.

"Finally! Listen, dear, your dad can't take you to the station. Mind if I drive you there?"

James gave his mum a weird face, but said, "Why not? I love being seen with my mum." 

Mrs. Potter obviously didn't catch the sarcasm, for she smiled rather lovingly at James. She quickly scanned her son's bedroom, and took in the shirts and jeans lying casually on the floor. Books were stacked untidily on top of lampshades and posters of famous quiddich players were covering every bit of the walls. She gave James a stern look, said "you better clean up this room of yours before you come downstairs for breakfast, young man", and left.

James sighed and took out his wand. He muttered an incantation that lifted all his clothing from the floor and his books from the lampshades, and put them neatly in his trunk. James quickly ruffled his hair. The place looked just like how his mother wanted it. He walked out of his room and went to the room next to his, which was occupied by Sirius Black, James' best friend.

"You awake, Padfoot?" he asked. Sirius was lying in his bed and his head was under his pillow.

"I think", Sirius' voice sounded very muffled.

"Get up. My mum's in a bad mood," James said. 

Sirius lazily got out of bed and said, "Prongs, do me a favor. Can you clean up the room and put my stuff on top of my trunk? I'm gonna go to the restroom." James nodded and Sirius left his room. He muttered the incantation he had used to clean up his own room again and in a few seconds, all of Sirius' belonging were in his open trunk. James sat down on Sirius' bed and thought of how fun this summer was, and how quickly it went by. It was the summer that Sirius came and lived with them.

You see, James and Sirius were best friends ever since their first year at Hogwarts. They were an inseparable pair. James and Sirius, along with Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew all were what they called "the marauders". 

James was the leader of the marauders, and went by the nickname Prongs. He was funny, gorgeous (according to the girls), smart, a prankster and rather arrogant (afterall, who wouldn't be, with such good traits?). James had messy jet black hair which was adored by girls and warm hazel eyes.  

Sirius was James' side-kick, and his nickname was Padfoot. He was very handsome, funny, rather smart, brave, a prankster, and very good with the ladies. He had light brown hair and piercing gray eyes. He was mostly the one who came up with the pranks in the group, and he (along with James) held the record for the most number of detentions in the whole history of Hogwarts.

Remus was the sensible one in the group, and went by the nickname Moony. He was also wise and mature. Unlike James and Sirius, he spent more time in the library then in boys' dorm coming up with new pranks to play on Snivellus.

Peter was the last member of the marauders, and went by the nickname Wormtail. He was different then the other marauders in every way. Unlike the rest, he was not very handsome, a coward, dependant, and rather stupid. He was also the tag along of the group.

James' thoughts were soon interrupted by Sirius' return.

"Hey Prongs. Wow, great job cleaning this place up."

"Thanks. We better get going downstairs before my mum throws a fit," James said, and left the room, followed by Sirius.

*-*-*-*-*-

"So, have you two boys packed all the stuff you need for school?" Mrs. Potter asked at breakfast, smiling fondly at them. Sirius and James nodded in unison. "Great! So after breakfast, we'll get ready and go."

"Mum! Its only 9! We're gonna get there too early!" James said in a whiny voice.

Mrs. Potter raised an eyebrow. "And what's your point?" James sighed and decided to give up. He quickly finished eating his breakfast, excused himself, and went up to his room to get ready.

As James finished packing up his trunk, he couldn't help but think of a certain redhead and how her summer was. Had she gotten a boyfriend, or was she still single? James had been thinking about her the whole summer, and owled several times asking her how she was doing, but got no response in return.

"Jamesie dear, are you ready?" Mrs. Potter's voice brought him back to reality.

"Yeah", he said dully. He lifted his trunk and brought it out of his room. _This_, he thought, _is gonna be one long day_.

*********************************************************************

"Oh, Lily, is it just me or is Mick Ryan totally _gorgeous_?" Gabriella Figg said rather girlishly.

Lily chuckled and looked in the same direction as Gabriella. The platform was crowded with students and parents who were saying goodbye to one another. But Lily quickly spotted Mick and smiled to herself. _Actually, he is kind of cute_, she thought. "Why don't you ask him out, Gabi?"

Gabi gave her a look as if the answer was quite clear already. Elina smirked at the other two. "He's lost a lot of weight during the summer", she commented, playing with a few strands of her hair.

"Did you guys see Jack Murray? He also looks rather cute", Nada, the last member of the little group of friends added. 

"But don't you already have a boyfriend, Nada?" Gabi asked.

"Sirius? Nah, he's a lousy boyfriend. He hasn't written a letter to me all summer."

"Maybe he was just busy", Elina said, casually shrugging. Nada snorted.

"Any guy in your life, Lily?" Gabi asked curiously.

Lily smiled and said, "nah. And im not going to think of going out with any in our year." As her eyes roamed the platform, they landed upon a pair of brown ones, which their owner happened to be someone Lily had never seen before. He looked around the same age as her. He was tall, and very handsome. He had dark brown, untidy hair with dark red streaks. The boy smiled at Lily, who gave a shy smile back. 

"Don't be so harsh, Lils! There are some cute ones. Like James!" Gabi commented. Lily broke eye contact with the guy as she turned to look at Gabi instead.

Lily felt sick. "James? God, no way am I ever going to go out with him."

"Thank god, too. I'd hate to see Lily with him", Elina said. For some strange reason that nobody knew, Elina and James always hated each other and never missed out on an opportunity to lower each other's egos. "Speaking of the devil, he's coming towards you from behind, Lil".

Lily rolled her eyes. "Wow, He does look cuter, not that he already wasn't cute", Gabi remarked.

"Oh why don't you marry him already?" Lily blurted, rather annoyed. Someone tapped her on her shoulder and she turned around to see a very handsome James smiling slyly at her.

"Hey Lil!" He said eagerly. His eyes quickly darted towards Elina, who was making a very rude hand gesture to him. 

"Hey…" Lily replied, looking rather annoyed with his presence. Gabi and Nada greeted him cheerfully, while Elina gave him a look that said quite plainly that he wasn't wanted.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" He asked Lily, who seemed to be ignoring him.

"Whatever", she replied, not at all wanting to talk to him. Elina gave her a sympathetic glance.  

"I'm going to go look for Sirius. Want to come with me, Gab?" Nada said, sensing that James wanted to talk to Lily _alone_. Gabi nodded and the two went looking for Sirius. Elina, however, remained with Lily. James gave her a pleading look, which caused her to smirk.

"Fine, Potter. Lily, if he asks you out, say no for me, will ya?" Lily blushed but didn't say anything. Elina went on the train, leaving the two alone at last.

*-*-*-*-*-

"So…" Lily said, breaking the awkward silence that had been caused by Elina's departure. 

"You look beautiful", James commented, his voice barely above a whisper. Lily went slightly red, twirling her hair strands with her fingers. James slowly lowered his head towards her's and was about to unite his soft lips with her's, when Lily slapped him across the face.

"Oww!" was his only reaction. "That's harsh!" He put his hand on the cheek that she slapped and pretended to look very hurt. Lily rolled her eyes and walked off before he could stop her. James quickly took his hand off his cheek to realize that a lot of people were looking at him with quizzical looks on their faces. He gave them a look that plainly said "What?" and decided to look for Padfoot.

***********************************************************************

"So she punched you?" Remus asked curiously, taking his eyes off the fields that the train was passing by and looking at James instead. James seemed rather happy, and kept on touching his right cheek which was rather red.

"Not punched, Moony, _slapped_", he replied, putting a lot of stress on the last word. Remus couldn't help but smile and glance at Sirius to see what his reaction was. Sirius had a rather sly grin on his face.

Peter, however, wasn't as fast as Sirius and Remus in comprehending things, and asked bluntly, "but why are you proud of the fact that she slapped you? I mean, if I were you, I would have been happy if she kissed me, not slapped-"

"Right, Peter. At least I don't consider myself lucky when a girl asks me if I know what hygiene is," James retorted. Peter went red and Sirius smirked. Remus gave James a don't-be-mean look and turned his attention back to the fields. James went on telling Sirius exactly how it happened, and Peter muttered something about having to talk to someone and left the compartment.

"Well", James said after he finished telling Sirius his theory about how Lily really likes him but is under a spell created by Elina to make her hate him, "I better get going to the Prefect's compartment. After all, I _am_ Head Boy." He grinned widely, pointing to the Head Boy badge neatly pinned onto his robe. He quickly left the compartment, followed closely by Remus, who whole-heartedly believed that James had become more narcissistic over the summer. 

*-*-*-*-*-

Lily patiently strutted around the Prefect's compartment. She stopped a few times, looking down at her watch to see what the time was, and started walking again. After a few minutes had passed and there still was no sign of the Head Boy or the remaining Gryffindor prefect, she sat down in her seat and said, "I don't think they're coming. Does anyone have any idea who the Head Boy is?"

"Probably Remus," a fellow Gryffindor named Michelle stated, while trying to pin on her Prefect badge. Lily sighed and curled her auburn hair using her fingers.

After what seemed like an hour to Lily, the door of the compartment opened and a tall, good-looking young man walked into the room with a smirk on his face. He was closely followed by a sandy haired Remus, who closed the door and sat down beside Lily. James sat on Lily's other side and casually wrapped his arm around her shoulders. Lily rolled her beautiful dark green eyes and gave him a rather disgusted look. James, however, didn't seem to get the point, and his arm remained where it was.

"Finally", Severus Snape, the Slytherin Prefect muttered under his breath. 

"What was that, _Snivellus_ (A/N: I'm a big Snape fan, so I might portray him very differently than a lot of other writers…)?" James asked, a look that plainly said "this is going to be fun" spreading across his face.

Severus' eyes were flashing dangerously at James, and Lily noticed that one of his hands was inching towards his pocket where his wand was sticking out. James also seemed to notice this because he quickly put his free hand in his own pocket, and was smirking at Severus. "Stop it you two", Lily snapped. "Now that we're all here, why don't we each introduce ourselves to the others? After all, we have to work together for the next 9 months…"

James grinned at this. The thought of him and Lily having to work with each other for the next 9 months and possibly having many intimate moments was too good.

Lily began by introducing herself. "My name's Lily Evans. I am a seventh year Gryffindor, and the Head Girl". 

She then glanced at Remus who got up and said, "And I'm Remus Lupin. Seventh year Gryffindor, and Prefect". Next came Michelle's turn to speak. "The name's Michelle Smith. I'm in my sixth year, Gryffindor prefect". The person on her left introduced herself quickly, and in a clockwise direction, everyone got a chance to tell the rest who they were. The last person to get up and introduce himself was James.

"As you all already know, I'm _the_ James Potter", he said, flashing his million dollar smile at a few of the girls. "There's no need to tell you what year or house I'm in, since all of you _must_ know. I also happen to be the Gryffindor Quiddich Captain, and a marauder. My hobbies include doing pranks on Snivellus as well as-"

"That's more than enough info", Lily loudly interrupted him, almost bursting with anger at how arrogant he was. James smiled at her and sat down.

"Anyways," Remus said, seeing a need for changing the subject, "Now that we all know one another, I believe its time to give each Prefect the password to their common room." He got up, walked over to a table that had parchments lying on top of it, and called the Prefects for the different houses to come and get their passwords (the passwords were written on the parchments). 

**********************************************************************

"How bad was it, Lil?" Nada asked once Lily had come back from the meeting.

Lily sat down beside Elina, who had a look of satisfaction on her face. "What do you mean?" 

"Well, who was the Head Boy?"

"Oh. It was James", Lily replied dully. She opened her trunk and took out a copy of *Witch's Weekly* magazine. 

"And…?" Nada asked, knowing that Lily wasn't telling them everything.

"And he was being a complete jerk!" Lily shouted, bursting with anger. "He thinks he owns the world!" 

Elina couldn't help but smirk. "Its ok Lily, we know", she said caringly, pulling Lily into a hug. 

"It's just that…I don't understand how he can be so bigheaded!" Lily remarked.

"Yeah, he is quite arrogant", Gabi commented. "But truthfully, Lily, do you think he's cute?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "Well…he is good-looking, but that's not what I want in a guy", she said, choosing her words very carefully. Elina's smirk quickly turned into a frown, and Nada grinned.

*-*-*-*-*-

Meanwhile, in a compartment not too far away, the Marauders could be found surrounded by admirers.

"Yes, of course you can have my autograph", Sirius said, flashing his charming smile at a sixth year Hufflepuff. Peter was giving him envious looks and ignoring his own admirers, which only happened to be two second year girls. James, however, seemed to be enjoying the attention he was getting from the all the girls, and didn't miss any opportunity to flirt with them. Remus, being the only sensible member of the group, was sitting in a corner reading a book.

"Hey James…" one of the girls said. She looked around his age. "Are you and Elina going out?"

James laughed at this question. "No, Teresa". Teresa grinned at him and was about to say something before she was interrupted by a bodiless voice, which announced that they were nearly at Hogwarts. The girls quickly got up and left the compartment to change into their uniforms.

"Melanie, Emma, and Victoria want me", Sirius commented, once the last few girls who were giggling at Sirius left. 

James snorted. "Right." Since he was already wearing his school robes, he decided to use his time for thinking up a prank to use on their first day back. 

"So how are we gonna make our big entrance?" Sirius asked, once he finished getting dressed. Every year, the marauders would make a spectacular first day entrance, which gave the first years the impression that the marauders were "the best". 

"I was thinking that our big entrance should be something along the lines of seduction", James grinned slyly.

Sirius smirked and glanced over at Remus, who had put away his book and had a confused look spread across his face. 

*-*-*-*-*-

As the train slowly came to a stop, Lily got off, and, making sure that her Head Girl badge was pinned on neatly, walked towards where Hagrid was standing, helping the first years into their boats. "First years this way!" he bellowed. 

"Hey Hagrid", she said. Hagrid looked down at where she was standing and grinned. 

"Good day, Lily. Mind helpin' me with the firs' years?" Lily nodded. She started shouting "First years, come here!" and pointed to where the boats were located. A group of confused first years headed in her direction, and when they spotted Hagrid, a look of fear came on their faces. Lily chuckled, remembering when she was new.

"Need help, Lil?" A deep, familiar voice cooed. Lily rolled her eyes and turned around to see James flashing his very charming smile.

"Not really," she replied dryly. She opened her mouth to call the first years towards the boats, when she felt someone's hand on her waist. "Listen, Potter" she growled, turning around and getting ready to slap James. However, she noticed that James wasn't the one who had his hand on her waist. It was a first year boy, who seemed rather lost.

"Um, Miss, where do I go?" he asked timidly. Lily pointed to Hagrid, and the boy, letting go of her waist, walked off in that direction.

"You thought I had my hand around your waist?" James asked, grinning mischievously. He was standing on Lily's left, viewing a group of sixth year girls. Lily ignored him, focusing on what she was to do.

"Excuse me", said a deep voice on Lily's other side. She turned around to see the handsome boy she saw at the platform standing in front of her with a smirk on his face. "Can you tell me where seventh years go?"

_So he's in my year_, Lily observed. Her heart beat faster. She noticed that he looked very fine from close-up. "Well, the second year students and above have to go to the school via carriages. The carriages are over there", she said, pointing to where the older students were. He smiled charmingly at her (which caused her to blush) and walked off. Lily couldn't help but watch him until he was out of view, not knowing that James was doing the same thing with a look of envy on his face.

_Well I'm not crazy I'm just a little unwell, I know right now you can't tell, but stay a while and maybe then you'll see a different side of me. I'm not crazy im just a little impaired, I know right know you don't care, but soon enough you're gonna think of me and how I used to be._


	2. Fearing You the Most

He-ey you guys! Thank you so much for the reviews! You guys are great! Hehe. I seriously went red when I read them…LoL. Anyways, I was on vacation like a week ago so I didn't write much, and when I came back I didn't write much either because I kinda had writer's block. So here's the second chapter!  
  


And this chapter, im going to start it from after the sorting, because, even though I tried, I couldn't write a good sorting song.

Again, you guys rock!

Chapter One:

*~*~*~*

Fearing you the most

*~*~*~*

After the First Years were sorted into their rightful houses, Dumbledore stood up in front of the school. Dumbledore raised an arm to ask for silence, and the buzzing and excitement of what was for dinner stopped.

"I don't _dream_ of delivering a long speech to you, for I myself look forward to eating. All I will say is: '_What we anticipate will surely happen_.' "

Lily frowned as she tried to read between the lines of what he said. Nada, who guessed what Lily was thinking of, said, "Don't take him so seriously, he always says things like that. Besides, it's a paradox."

Lily, who doubted Nada even knew what a paradox was, raised an eyebrow. "I mean, what we expect to happen will happen. What if we don't expect it to happen, will it still happen? Or what if we change our expectances before it happens?" Nada went on, trying to explain.

"You make no sense, Nada", Elina said, giving her friend a confused look. "You're theory is rather green. You see, what does happen has nothing to do with what we believe, or anticipate, would happen. No human makes mistakes purposefully. We interpret what will happen based on what we want to happen, not on what is logical and will most likely happen."

Lily, who was now thoroughly confused with her friends' ways of thinking, decided to change the subject, and so she commented on how "yummy the food looked". This brought the whole group's attention back to the food which had magically appeared, and the debate of whether Dumbledore's statement was right or wrong was soon forgotten.

As Lily stuffed mashed potatoes into her mouth and drank a cup of pumpkin juice subsequently, her eyes scanned the Great Hall to see where the new student she saw earlier was sitting. After searching for a few moments, she noticed him sitting at the very same table as her, right next to James Potter and Sirius Black. She gawked stupidly at the three.

"What's up, Lil?" Gabi asked curiously. She looked in the same direction as Lily, and grinned. "Aww, does Lily have a crush on James?"

Lily stopped looking at them and turned to Gabi. "Are you _mad_? No! Look at who's sitting with him!"

Gabi took a closer look. "Sirius? Lil, he sits with James every day."

"No! I'm talking about _the new guy_!"

"What? What about him? But I got to admit that he is quite fine."

"Exactly! And now James and Sirius are going to corrupt him!" James was busy chatting with 'the new guy', who seemed very interested in what James was saying.

"How would you know Lily? You know, I think you have this whole 'Sirius being a bad guy' thing all wrong", Nada commented.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Fine, _James_ is going to corrupt him." Nada looked satisfied.

"Oh come on Lils! I'm sure James isn't going to be that bad to him!" Gabi said reassuringly. At that moment, James made a gesture that looked like something blowing up, and him and the new guy laughed.

"I bet he just showed him how to make a dung bomb. I agree with Lily, James' going to corrupt the new guy." Elina commented, watching the two like a hawk. 

"If only I knew his name", Lily whispered, more to herself than the others. 

Nada raised an eyebrow, got up from her seat, and walked over to where the marauders were sitting and sat beside Sirius. Sirius looked puzzled (he probably forgot he even had a girlfriend, Lily thought), but didn't make any comment. Nada asked him something, but Lily couldn't make out what she was saying. Sirius replied to her with a smirk on his face. 

Nada then got up and walked back to where her friends were, and said to Lily, "His name's Rami (A/N: from now on, you guys are going to get a certain impression of him. He's kinda the type that I would consider a Knight in Shining Armor or whatever. So, he might sound a bit…too good. LoL)". 

"Rami? Sounds _romantic_", Lily said dreamily. She glanced at Rami and saw that he was laughing at something James had said. All of a sudden, his eyes landed on her's. He flashed her a charming smile, and she nervously smiled back at him.

*-*-*-*-*-

After the deserts had come and gone and everyone was full, Dumbledore stood up once again and asked for silence. "Now that we are done having such a delicious feast, I must ask for your attention as I have to make the usual start-of-term notices. First years, as well as a few of our older students, should be aware that the Forest in the grounds is out-of-bounds to students." Lily noted that Sirius and James exchanged glances and smirked. 

"Mr. Filch also reminded me to inform you that students are not allowed to bring Chocolate Frogs or any other type of chocolate inside the classrooms. Now, you may head back to your dorms." Dumbledore sat back down and started chatting with Professor Davis, the Potions instructor.

Lily, as well as some of the other students, stood up. She glanced at Remus and the two nodded in unison to one another. They both started calling all the first year Gryffindors and the older students to follow them. As the Gryffindors left the Great Hall, Lily heard the First years whispering to one another about how fascinating the school was. One student was telling the rest about how her older brother told her that there were trolls hiding behind the portraits. This caused a few students to shriek when the portraits they passed would talk to them. 

Remus pointed to different directions and told the First Years the basics about the school, while Lily tried to keep her eye on some of the older students, especially the Marauders. As she watched them, she noticed that James and Rami were still talking to one another. Rami was telling James something which seemed to interest him much, for he had a smirk on his face. 

After a few minutes, they reached the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. "Pig's love" Remus uttered the strange password. The Portrait of the Fat Lady, which guarded the entrance, opened to reveal the Gryffindor common room. The students rushed to get inside. After they all entered, Lily and Remus followed. 

To Lily, the common room remained the same. It was a large, circular room, which was big enough for practically the whole school to fit inside. There were tables, chairs and couches inside it. Most of the objects were different shades of red, including the walls and rugs, which were light red.

"Welcome to the Gryffindor Common Room", Remus said, pointing out the obvious. "It is an area for socializing and doing work with other Gryffindors. The stairs on the left lead to the Boys' dormitory, while the ones on the right lead to the Girls' dormitory. You may now go up to your own dormitory or stay here and relax". _Trust Remus to come up with something corny to say_, Lily thought. 

"Lily, are you coming upstairs or _what_?" Gabi asked, as she, Nada and Elina started walking towards the stairs heading to the Girls' Dormitory.

"Yeah, Im coming", Lily replied, heading towards their direction. As she walked towards them, she saw from the corner of her eyes two people that were looking at her direction. She was tempted to look and see who they were, but decided it was best not to. However, she had a hunch who the two were. One looked a lot like James, and the other seemed to be Rami. Her heart skipped faster at the thought of him watching, but she quickly reminded herself that James was also watching her.  

******************************************************************************

"So, Lily, did you get to talk to that guy?" Gabi asked as she looked at the mirror in the dorm. She was busy curling her hair with her fingers. Her beautiful chestnut hair was one of many things that made her attractive to the male population.

Lily looked up from the book that she was reading, _Potions: NEWT level_. "What guy?"

"Gabi means that guy you found cute", Elina responded for Gabi. She was busy putting on a second coat of blue nail polish on her long fingernails.

Lily laughed. "Well, he did ask me for directions when we reached school, but that was it."

"Aww, I think he likes our Lily!" Nada said in a baby-ish voice. She got up and walked over to Lily, and pinched her cheeks. Lily let out an "Ow!" and tried to pinch Nada back, but Nada was too quick for her and had already dashed away. Lily chased her around the place, trying to pinch her back. The two girls were giggling and knocking over some of the other girls' stuff.

"Grow _up_!" Elina yelled shrilly. Lily and Nada stopped chasing one another and went back to their own beds.

"Goodnight, all", Gabi said, as she finished fixing her hair. She darted to her own bed and pulled the curtains around it. 

Lily decided it was getting late, so she got up and changed out of her school uniform into a pair of light blue pajamas. She then got into her bed, pulled the curtains around her, and before she knew it, she fell asleep.

*******************************************************************************

"So…this is the Boys' dormitory, eh?" Rami asked the marauders, as he took in everything in the room. The room was very big, and contained 7 beds. Bags were lying all around the beds.

"Yup, this is it", James answered. He sat down on his own bed, and took off his socks. 

"Oh, Prongs, can you please not do that? Your feet smell _really_ bad", Sirius commented, putting his hand in front of his nose to block the awful smell. James gave him a grow-up-already look and laid down on the bed. Rami sat down on the bed on James' right, assuming that it was his bed, for his luggage was beside it. 

"So, Rami, what do you think of _our_ girls?" James asked casually. He ran his left hand through his already messy hair.

"Well, I haven't met any of them yet", Rami answered.

"What James means, Rami", Sirius interrupted, "is that you can take whatever girl you want, except Lily Evans."

Rami raised an eyebrow. "Who's she?"

"The Head Girl. The one that was showing the First Years around", James answered.

"Never saw her."

"Well, she's great. And our little Jamesie here has a crush on her", Sirius said, smirking. James rolled his eyes and blocked his face using his hands. He then shot a pillow at Sirius and missed. Sirius laughed. 

Rami grinned slyly. "Ill try to keep that in mind."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Anyways. This Chapter took me some time to write. But…yeah. Hope you guys enjoy it! I tried to put in some of the people's feelings towards one another, so…yeah. 

**Rolopup**: hey, thanks for reading! 

**Missy**: hey hun! Again, thanks for reading. You're the best! *hugs* and u added me to your favorite's list? *faints* thank you so much! Hehe. And ill probably mention the Slytherin more in the next chapter.

**Lydia**: hey girl! Thanks a lot! LoL, yeah I know I told you I would post on Wednesday, but I had like no time to really proof-read it, and so I posted it today. Thanks for reading!

**Kait**: he-ey! LoL. Yes, my Sevi dear is gonna be quite the interesting one, LoL. Thanks a lot for reading! 

**Evy**: *faints again* Evy!!! What is up girl? Omg, this is so unbelievable! Hehe. I never expected you to read my fic, let alone like it. That means a lot to me! Lub ya mucho!


	3. A James perspective on matters

Hey everyone! Anyways, sorry for the delay and all…I was so busy with school and stuff. Anyways, I decided that its time I came up with a plan on when to post. And I was thinking that if all goes well, ill try my best to post every 3 weeks. If I don't, then please forgive me. 

Thanks for the reviews! You guys rock!

And this chapter is going to be a bit different. I thought that I'd switch from the third person point of view to the first person, just to give more information about James and how he thinks. Hope you like it!

Also, I wasn't sure about how the whole NEWT thing worked. I thought it would be something along the lines of Higher Level classes, or AP subjects. So, sorry if I made a mistake in this assumption.

Chapter Three:

*~*~*~*

A James perspective on matters

*~*~*~*

  
Girls. They drive me _crazy_. They're the smartest, most gorgeous, funniest, and interesting beings. No man will ever understand their way of thinking. However, this doesn't mean that we don't love them for what they are.

I, James Potter, consider myself to be quite the womanizer. After all, what girl wouldn't fall in love with my great looks, or my charisma? I _live_ for women, and women live for me. 

Unless you count Lily Evans, of course.

Lily Evans in the most extraordinary being I have ever met. She is pretty, sweet, and smart, or "PSS". Whenever she walks down a corridor, many people turn to view her. She has a natural aurora which attracts people of both genders to herself. Her presence is felt, even when she is silent. The first time I had seen her, I knew that she would soon be mine. 

That was 7 years ago, and I still have not gotten her to go out on a date with me.

Now I am not the shy type at all. If I am attracted to a girl, I wont hesitate in asking her to have butterbeer at Hogsmeade or take a walk along the lake shore with me. However, in Lily's case, it's different. I have tried to ask her to go out with me many times, and have been rejected over and over again. Why? Let me explain it in plain words: _She Hates Me_.

It all started when we were on the Hogwart's train in our first year. I had accidentally stumbled into a compartment filled with girls while searching for Sirius, and Lily was the first person who noticed my presence.

"Uh, hi. Can I help you?" she asked politely. Even back then, I thought that her voice sounded like an angel's. She was busy talking to another girl (which I later found out to be a klutzy and vivacious girl named Gabriella) when I entered the compartment. When she addressed me, a few of the other girls turned to look at my direction. One of them (who Remus later introduced me to her and said her name was Elina) raised her eyebrow questioningly at me.

"Not really. Unless you have Sirius hidden somewhere underneath your skirts", I commented, smirking. That was the biggest mistake I ever made. 

Lily scowled at me. "No, we don't. I suggest you look somewhere else for this Sirius person" she said, trying her best to still be polite. She was doing a very poor job at it.

"I looked in all the other compartments, he must be in this one."

"Are you implying that I am lying?"

"No. I'm merely commenting on the fact that he is no where-"

"Can you leave?" Elina interrupted me rudely.

"No", I replied harshly. She opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the entrance of the one and only Sirius Black. 

Sirius was a bit shorter than me. He had light brown hair that was a bit longer than mine, and had mysterious gray eyes. He flashed a smile at the girls and grinned at me, a grin that meant something very awful was going to happen. "Why hello there! Potter, I think we hit the jackpot!" we both laughed in unison, while the girls glared at us. 

Lily scolded again, this time at Sirius. Boy, did she look cute when she did that. "Can you two please leave? You're disturbing us greatly." That was _her_ biggest mistake. No one, and I mean _no one_ tells Sirius and I to stop doing something. We do whatever we like. 

Sirius smiled at her, a smile that meant nothing good. "We'll leave…under one condition."

"What's that?"

"That you go out on a date with me or Potter", he smiled broadly. 

Lily opened her mouth to object, but closed it immediately. Instead, she put her hand in her pocket and took out her wand. She aimed it at the two of us. "Get out or else", she threatened, her voice barely above a whisper. 

Although Sirius and I were both "tough", we didn't know any magic. And what was the use of taking out our wands and pretending we did? So we chose the cowards way out and left the compartment. As we closed the door, we heard the girls laughing and high-fiving each other.

That, however, was seven years ago. And she _still_ hates me. Whenever I ask her out, she makes some sort of rude comment towards me. For example, the first time I asked her out was when we were in our 3rd year. It was the week before our first Hogsmeade trip. I had casually asked her if she wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me after our Arithmancy class.

"No", she said plainly, raising an eyebrow. It was a good thing that none of her friends or my friends were with us to see the embarrassing look on my face. I quickly said something and walked off.

The next time I asked her out it was in a very different type of situation. It had happened halfway through our 4th year, when Lily and I had to do a Potions project together. I had asked her if she wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me so that we could "work on our project". Her answer was that it wasn't good to lie, and a white lie at that. 

The third time I asked her out was at the beginning of our 5th year. This time she accused me of stalking her and threatened to hex me if I didn't leave her alone.

The fourth time I asked her was at the end of our 5th year, after our exams were over. This time I had asked her in front of everyone in our year. Her answer was much harsher, too. She said that she would prefer to go with the giant squad then me. 

_Ouch_. 

After that, I can't remember how many times I have asked her. In our 6th year, I was constantly asking her to be my girlfriend, and I was rejected each and every time. 

One time, however, her close friend Nada tried to persuade her to go out with me (she was with Lily when I had asked the latter to go to Hogsmeade with me). Lily gave her a cold look, said no and walked off. Nada stayed a bit longer and told me that she would try her best to help me get Lily, but I knew it was no use.

According to Sirius, the womanizer in our group, Lily hates me more and more each time I ask her out. This, of course, I don't believe. Personally, I don't think I'll ever understand women. Especially Lily.

**********************************************************************

The first day of school began with an abrupt start. I don't remember exactly how or when I had woken up, but the first thing I saw was Sirius with a pillow in his hand that was aimed towards me. I yelled. 

"Potter, calm down! You're going to scare the mice away!" Sirius said, his voice barely above a whisper. His hair was untidy and muddled for a change. He also had a very insane look on his face. I noticed that everyone else was out of their beds, including Peter. 

"What _are_ you talking about?!?!" I shrieked.

Sirius raised an eyebrow but did not say anything. After what seemed like a minute of pure silence (with no one moving at all), Sirius let the pillow fall to the ground. "I'm warning you", he said, talking to no one in particular, "this is the very first last time you will win against me, Sirius Black."

The strangeness of it all had reached me after Sirius finished his little speech. "Who are you talking to?"

"The mice", Sirius replied mysteriously. I glanced at Rami who was standing a few feet away from me, and received a confused look from him.

"Black, there are no mice here. I think you saw them in perhaps a dream you just had", I replied, running my hand through my already messy hair. Brad Smith, one of the other guys in our dormitory, started laughing at this comment.

"Yes, the mice are here", he raised his voice and looked up at the ceiling, as if expecting it to know where the mice were, "you have won this time. Black-0, Mice-1."

I sighed, and gave Sirius a pitiful look. Although he was my best mate, he was a tad bit strange at times. I quickly looked at Remus, who was standing a bit behind Sirius. He looked like he was going to laugh, but was trying his hardest not to. 

"I'm going to head towards the Great Hall, anyone want to come?"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"So, what class do you have first?" Remus asked me once we received our schedules from Professor McGonagall, the Transfigurations teacher. I looked over it quickly and noticed that I had most of my classes with Slytherin and Ravenclaw students. I handed Remus my schedule.

Remus quickly scanned it and smiled. "We have the exact same classes." 

Sirius looked over Remus' shoulder to see my schedule, and grinned as well. "This is great! The three marauders have the exact same classes! Now we can cause hell in them, and no one can stop us!" This, indeed, was a very pleasant thought.

I noticed that Rami was looking at his schedule with a look of confusion on his face. "Need help?" I asked, remembering how hard it was for me to understand my schedules in our first year. He shrugged, and handed his schedule to me. As I scanned it, I noticed that he was in almost all my classes, except that instead of Arithmancy NEWT level, he was taking Divinations NEWT level.

"Ill go with you to all your classes, except Divinations, since I don't take that class", I told him. He smiled and muttered quick thanks.

I quickly looked over to where Lily and her friends were sitting. She had a piece of bread in one hand and had her schedule in the other. She was reading it carefully, and taking bites from the bread at the same time. 

We had a few minutes to spare before we had to head to our first class, Potions. I quickly drank some tea (A/N: ok, I don't have my book right now, so I was wondering, what DO they drink besides Pumpkin Juice?), and had sausages and bacon. After a while, some students started heading towards their first classes. I stood up and the other marauders (including Rami, excluding Peter) followed my suit. Then, we started heading towards the dungeons where the Potions classes always took place.

On our way there, I couldn't help but wonder what class Lily had first. In our 6th year, she also happened to be taking Potions NEWT level. She was the best student in our class…after me, of course. I remember her getting mad on several occasions when she didn't understand what to do and I would help her. She never wanted to admit she didn't know something or that she was wrong. However, I didn't mind it much when she got mad, because she looked cute at those times as well.

However, my thoughts were soon interrupted with us reaching the dungeon. Sirius opened the dungeon door and entered first. Then Remus and Rami entered, and finally me in the rear. Sirius quickly went and got our seats in the back of the class. That's where we always sat in each and every class of ours. Everyone knew we sat there, too, so they never took our seats. As Rami, Remus and I made our way there, I looked around the class, trying to see if Lily happened to be in it. My heart beat faster as I saw her sitting one seat in front of my usual seat. Our eyes even met for a brief second. Then, of course, she frowned at me, and looked away.

After a few minutes, Professor Davis, our Potions master, entered the room. He raised an eyebrow to the students. I think he was surprised to see so many students willingly take his class. Personally, the only reason that _I_ took Potions again was because I need it for my life after Hogwarts. You see, I plan on becoming an Auror; the best Auror there is, for that matter.

"Welcome to my class. As you all without a doubt know me, I'm Professor Davis. I will have to teach you Potions this year", he began. The way he said "I will have to" made me and Sirius smirk.

"Indubitably", Sirius muttered under his breath.

"First, I would like to begin this class by giving you a test. Nothing too big", he said, his lips curving into a very disturbing smile. He was a sadistic bastard, if I ever saw one. Hated everyone in our class…including me. 

Severus Snape put up his hand. "Professor, I believe that there is no need for me to give the test. After all, I know everything there is to know about Potions." Snape gave Davis the same evil, disturbing smile. Davis grinned maliciously at him. In my opinion, Snivellus was Davis' little heir of teaching Potions. He loved Potions and everything that had to do with the dark arts. 

He was a sad, pitiful creature. 

"Yes, yes, you're an exception, Severus. However", he now turned to the rest of the class, "the rest of you have to take it."

Everyone quickly took out their books and started reviewing. I looked in front of me and saw Lily had two fingers covering each of her ears and was trying hard to study. She then tossed her hair, which had gotten in her view, back. Since I was sitting behind her, I felt a few of the strands gently touch my face. I smiled to myself. However, I was soon drawn back to reality when Sirius told me that I better study. 

After what seemed like less than a few seconds, Professor Davis started handing out the test papers. He gave everyone a paper except Snivellus. He then instructed us to turn them over and start writing.

I turned over my paper and read the questions. The questions were easy stuff. I quickly wrote down the answers and was the first to hand in my paper. After a few seconds, Lily also got up and handed in her paper, too. She caught me staring at her as she was heading back to her seat, and she mouthed "what?" to me. 

The next person to hand in his paper was Sirius. He smiled slyly at me as he walked back to his desk. "It was too easy", he stated. After him, the rest of the class handed in their papers one by one. 

Once the last paper was handed in, Professor Davis got up and smiled evilly. "Great. Like I said, that wasn't too hard. Next thing on my agenda before we start is a change of seats that _must_ occur." He smiled even more. He then started picking random people and asking them to change their seats. After he changed a few Slytherin and Gryffindor girls' seats around, he looked over to my direction. 

"Potter, move next to Miss Evans. Sirius, quit smirking and go and sit beside Miss Vedit." I couldn't have been happier! Instead of hating him, I actually started liking the man. Although I was now separated from Sirius (who was sitting with Gabi), I was sitting beside Lily Evans instead. And Lily was worth more than Sirius any day. 

I quickly got up and grabbed my bag and my book. I put them on the desk that Elina was sitting in. As she got up, she muttered, "you better not hurt Lily" under her breath. Like I would! I smirked at her and put my bag on my new desk. I quickly sat down and turned to see what Lily's reaction was to this new seating arrangement. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was looking straight ahead, avoiding my eye. 

Professor Davis then went on giving the rest of the class their new seats. He made Rami go and sit somewhere in the corner with a Slytherin girl, and made Remus sit beside Elina. Poor him. 

However, the worst change of seating he had done was to Snivellus. He made Severus go and sit on Elina's other side, but after Snivellus had gotten out of his seat, Davis changed his mind and made him come and sit on Lily's other side. Oh damn. I looked over to see what Lily's reaction was, and saw that her jaw dropped. It must've been the worst thing that a teacher had ever done to her.

"Aw, Lily, it's not that bad. After all, you're sitting beside _me_," I said, trying to cheer her up. It obviously didn't help. She scowled at me and rolled her eyes. She then turned to Severus and started a conversation with him about how he thought he was doing in the class. 

Women. I'll never understand them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Hmm. Ok, that was quite a bit. To all the people who commented, thank you so much!!! 

Missy, you rock!!! Huggles and all to you!!! Hehe. And thanks for your comment!

Lydia- hey! LoL, thanks! Yeah. Snape's the best man. No one can mess with him. LoL :p

Evy- hehe lub ya!! And thanks for the comment!


	4. Why Not?

Hey! Anyways, loved the reviews. You guys are the best! And im happy that the whole POV thing worked out all right :) 

Now, in this chapter, I'm going to introduce a new character that will have a role in the plot. And im also going to try to make the characters, especially Lily's friends, have a distinct personality. 

Oh yeah. I also went and fixed up the first two chapters, so now the italics and all that jazz is good! hehe

Chapter Four:

*~*~*~*

Why Not?

*~*~*~*

"Liiiiil…wake up!" Gabi whined. She reached her hand over to Lily's cheek and gently smacked her. Lily didn't open her eyes. "Lily, I swear to god im going to throw a bucket of water over your head if you don't wake up right now!" Gabi warned the sleeping Lily. 

"Unless you haven't noticed, she's asleep", Elina commented sarcastically. 

"Has anyone seen my tie?" Nada interrupted the two. She made her way in-between Elina and Marlene McKinnon, another room-mate of theirs. "Excuse me, people! I really need my tie!"

"Why would anyone take your tie?" Elina asked curiously. She buttoned her blouse and headed towards a mirror to fix her hair.

"You know, Elina, that's what I'm wondering!"

"Maybe Sirius has it", Gabi said, getting up from Lily's bed and heading towards the restroom. "I mean, you two _were_ spending the day together yester-" Nada gave Gabi a death glare, and Gabi stopped talking immediately. Elina turned around to look at the two, raising an eyebrow.

"I wonder what we have for breakfast today", Marlene said, hastily changing the subject.

"The usual, I guess", Nada muttered. She opened her suit case and took out a brand new tie. She put it on without saying anything to the others, and then left the dorm.

"What was that about?" Elina asked Gabi. Gabi shrugged, not meeting her eye. She went to the restroom and filled an empty cup with water. She then headed back to Lily's bed and gently splashed the water over Lily's face. The coldness of the water caused Lily to open her eyes and quickly get up.

"Gabi!!! What was that?" she asked, looking paranoid. She quickly searched the room, expecting the marauders to have pulled some evil prank.

"Water."

"YOU SPLASHED WATER ON MY FACE?!?! You _moron_!" she shrieked. She quickly got out of her bed, running towards Gabi. Gabi, knowing what Lily was going to do, dashed away. Lily chased after her, yelling something about not getting much sleep last night. She chased Gabi around the dorm for about a minute, before Elina stepped in front of her to stop her from moving and Marlene grasped hold of Gabi's wrist.

*-*-*-*-*-

"What class do you have first, Lils?" Gabi asked, looking over her own schedule for the day. She was sitting beside Elina, and as far away from Lily as possible. Nada wasn't sitting with the three. Instead, she was sitting beside Sirius and trying her best to start a conversation with him, and failing miserably.

Lily frowned, trying to remember. "I have Arithmancy, Divinations, and then Charm."

"Did you finish your essay for Charm's?"

"Yeah, I finished it before we went on vacation", Lily replied. She poked her bacon with a fork before taking a bite of it. 

Lily distinctly remembered her summer vacation. Her family had gone to Spain to visit her Aunt Clara. It was the worst vacation that she had ever been on. It wasn't that she didn't enjoy Spain or being with her cousins, it was just the fact that Petunia was with them. And, if that wasn't bad enough, she decided to bring her fiancée with her as well. 

Vernon Dursley. 

Lily hated him with a passion. He looked like a huge balloon, and, next to Petunia, he looked even bigger (if possible). He would always ask Lily why she went to a private school away from the family (he wasn't aware of the fact that she was a witch) instead of staying with her parents. He also went on saying how Petunia was the best thing that had ever happened to him. Lily always snorted and asked to be excused when he said something like this. She couldn't imagine how their child would look; probably like a big whale, just like his father. She had decided long ago that if they ever married, she would never go and visit them.   

Lily, however, was soon brought back to reality with someone's tap on her shoulder. She turned around to see who it was and groaned immediately. It was no one other than James Potter. He smiled slyly at her. He just _loves _annoying me, Lily thought bitterly. He sat down in the empty seat beside her, not even bothering to ask her if she minded. Which she did.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and drew her closer to himself. "How's my Lily doing?"

"_Your_ Lily?" she replied rudely. She took his arm off of her shoulders. But it was useless, because he did the same thing again. Resistance was _indeed_ futile in Lily's case.  

James' smile broadened. Oh, how badly Lily wanted to punch him and wipe the smile off his handsome face. "Oh come on, Lil. I know you-" 

"Don't call me that!" she yelled angrily. She hated it when he called her "Lil". They weren't close friends or anything. Actually, they weren't friends at all. He shouldn't even call her Lily, let alone Lil.

"Fine, _Evans_. It's your loss, not mine", he got back up from his seat and shoved his hands into his pockets. His smile faded a bit, as he gave her a last glance before leaving her and her friends.

Lily sighed. She hated to see the happy-go-lucky James look all disappointed. But she had no other choice than to drive him away when he annoyed her.  

Elina's eyes followed James as he took a seat beside Remus. "Damn, Lily", she commented, not taking her eyes off James and the marauders.

"What?" Lily retorted. She wasn't in the mood to get a lecture about what a great job she did, especially from Elina.

"Nothing." 

********************************************************************************************

_Three seconds_,_ two seconds_,_ one second_…

Lily counted down the time left till Arithmancy class finished. Although it was her most favorite subject, she had no one to talk to. Frankly, she never talked to half the people in the class. The only people that she could say she was slightly friends with were the marauders, who were also in the class (excluding Peter, who was too stupid to get into such a hard class). 

James, Sirius and Remus were sitting in the row beside her. Remus was taking notes, Sirius was day dreaming, and James was looking smug. He had his feet on the desk and his chair was tilted so that it was only on its two behind legs.

The bell rang, and the class started putting their books and parchments in their bag. Lily was the first to finish packing. She picked up her bag and quickly headed for the door.

She left the classroom and headed towards the Divinations class. She hated the location of it. It was farthest in the North tower, farthest away from all her other classes. Once she got there, she noted that a few people were already waiting underneath the silver stepladder.

Lily noted Nada standing by herself in a corner. She looked frustrated and was eyeing someone with anger in her eyes. 

"Hey", Lily greeted her. Nada looked away from the girl she was glaring at and instead focused on Lily, who was standing in front of her.

"Hi", she said in a rather shy voice. This was unusual, because Nada was the least shy person Lily knew. And it was also a sign that something was wrong.

"You ok?" Lily asked, concerned about her friend. 

"I'm fine", Nada stared at the ground and frowned. "I'm just angry at someone."

"Sirius?"

"Yes."

"I figured. What happened?"

"He no longer likes me. He told me this morning during breakfast that he didn't have any feelings for me anymore", her voice sounded muffled as she said this. Although Lily couldn't see her eyes, she knew that Nada was crying.

"Oh, Nada, im sorry!" she said, hugging her friend. The two embraced. "He wasn't worth it", she said quietly.

"No, he was", Nada said, sniffling. "But he said that he still wanted to be friends with me…"

The two let go of one another. "Well that's still good! Don't worry. I'm sure you'll find someone else soon, that'll be a much better boyfriend than Sirius", Lily tried cheering up her friend. The edges of Nada's mouth twitches slightly, forming a smile. 

At that moment, the students waiting outside started heading up the stepladder. Lily and Nada followed their suit. 

The smell of a very strong perfume filled their nostrils. The room was dark, with a fire located in the front. The curtains were blocking any source of light from entering. The only light that kept them all from not being able to see one another was the light from the fire, which looked like it had been burning forever. 

Nada and Lily quickly took their seats in the back of the class, where they usually sat in divinations. Since the marauders weren't in Divinations, they didn't need to worry about taking anyone's seat. Nada sat on the left of a hufflepuff girl with curly blond hair. Lily recognized her from somewhere, but couldn't remember where. Lily took the empty seat on Nada's left, and put her bag on the empty seat beside her, seeing as no one seemed to be sitting there.    

Once everyone had sat down in their seats, Lily noticed how huge the class was. Students from all houses were in it. Even Slytherins, who were known for not believing in the art of fortune-telling. 

Everyone started talking to one another, waiting patiently for the teacher to come. After a few minutes, another person entered the room. Lily gasped.

It was Rami.

Lily's heart beat faster at the sight of him. He looked rather confused, and was scanning the room in search of an empty seat. That's when Lily remembered that the seat beside her own was empty. She quickly took her bag off of it so that he'd notice. She felt a sudden urge to scream out his name and point to the empty seat, but decided not to.

After a few seconds, he noticed the seat beside hers. He smirked slightly and walked over to it. _Oh man_, Lily thought. She tried not to look too happy and excited. Once he reached her seat, he asked her in a shy voice, "hey, mind if I sit here?" His chocolate eyes made her feel all _tingly_ inside. 

Lily nearly melted. She opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Instead, she nodded her head. He took this as a yes and put his bag on the seat. Once he sat down, Lily had a hard time trying to avoid staring at him. 

"Good afternoon, class", said a mysterious voice. It belonged to no one other than Professor Alagur, the master of Divinations. She walked to the front of the class and examined the students. "Well, we're a big class now, aren't we?" 

Professor Alagur was known among students and professors alike for her sense of sarcasm. She was hated by most, and admired by few. Although she was a true seer, she barely showed it. She was one that talked in ways that the class never understood. In Lily's opinion, she was one of the wisest professors in the entire school. 

"Where should we start? Oh yes. Role call. How can I forget?" she took out a parchment with all the names of the students on it. "Atina, Barkel, Diggle, Doge, Dunn, Evans, Handerhan, Holt…I saw you six already. Miss Jaroud?" Nada put up her hand and muttered "present". "Ok. Jones, Jorkins, Kanan, Lowe, McKinnon, Mulroy, Norsikian, Podmore, Shacklebolt…I saw you all, too. Miss Tannir, and Mr. Taler?" two students put up their hands. "And who's Rami Serge?" 

"Here", he said in his somewhat deep voice. 

Alagur smiled at him. In Lily's opinion, her smile looked rather forced. "How nice of you to join us. So you seem to know much about Divinations. Well, you're going to do very well in this class." 

Lily glanced at Rami. He seemed impressed by this good news. He thanked her.

"Now that we're done with that, lets start on the important things. Open your books to page 370, and find a partner to work with. We'll be starting palm reading today, and you will be having to do an essay for tonight, which will be due next class. No late work will be accepted." The students groaned and opened their books to the required page. 

_Oh joy_, Lily thought bitterly. She thought palm reading was the most ridiculous part of Divinations. Nada, however, opened her book and looked rather enthusiastic.

"Yes! We get to work with a partner!" she said excitedly.

"Nada, me and you are always partners. Why so happy all of a sudden?" 

Nada gave Lily a confused look. "Lily…I don't know how to say this…but can we _not_ be partners this time?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Because I want to partner up with someone else," she said quietly. She looked away from Lily and her eyes searched the classroom. Lily followed her gaze and noticed who Nada was looking at. Bellatrix Black. Sirius' cousin.

Lily groaned. She could guess what Nada had planned in her little mind. "You're not going to…?"

"Yes, I am. Sorry, Lils. Can you find another partner instead?"

"Yeah. I guess I can", Lily sighed. Nada smiled at her and dashed to where Bellatrix was sitting. _Now all I have to do is find a partner_, Lily thought. She turned to the curly haired blond sitting beside Nada to ask her if she had a partner, but saw that she was busy talking to a Slytherin girl. She glanced at Marlene's direction, but noticed that she was working with Shacklebolt.

"Hey, do you have a partner?" a somewhat familiar voice asked. She turned around to see Rami with a quizzical look on his face. Their eyes met again.

"No. You?" Lily said, quickly looking away. She had a bad habit of looking away when talking to those she was attracted to. She could never keep eye contact for too long with them. 

"Nope. Want to partner up then? I'm Rami Serge (A/N: I am sooo aware that Serge is a first name, not a last name. But hey, it sounded cool as a last name)."

"Sure. I'm Lily Evans", she replied. 

Rami raised an eyebrow and looked rather surprised. "So you're Lily Evans. Nice to meet you."

Lily had no idea what he meant by this, but decided that someone must have told him about her. Probably the marauders. Most likely James.

"You too. So, we should start on this. Do you want to read my palm first or should I read yours?"

"How about you read mine? You probably know how to do this better than I do", he commented, holding out his palm. Lily nervously held it in her own palm. She opened her book to the required page and read the instructions. She then looked back at his palm.

"Ok, so this is your life-line. Let's see…you're life line is long. This means", she took her eyes off his hand and looked back at the book, "that you have strong romantic tendencies."

Rami let out a low whistle. Lily couldn't help but laugh. 

"And your Head line shows that you have a strong sense of grievance. Your Heart lines shows that you are warm and generous. Your Fate line also shows that you will have an early start in career and finance. You Sun line shows that your personal success will come from one of your original ideas or breakthroughs in technology."

"Really now?" he commented, smiling his charming smile at her. Lily couldn't help but smile back.

"And, the type of hand you have shows that you're independent, intellectual, analytical and unpredictable." (A/N: ok people, don't kill me if I did this all wrong! I did this test on a friend of mine, and those were the results. And so I just used her results for this! And yes, I know that in their class, they probably don't do palm reading the same way!)

"Sound's great. Wow, you're smart."

Lily blushed. "No, im not."

"I'm sure you are. I mean, you're Head Girl and all…"

Lily looked down at her robes. She didn't have her badge on. So how did he know this? She asked him.

"Oh, I just guessed that you were", he said, shrugging. "How I interpret your palm now?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.

Lily gave him her own palm. He gently gripped her wrist with one hand and ran his finger along her palm lines with the other. Lily's heart beat quickened with his touch. He muttered things about her palm and its lines, but Lily wasn't listening. She was just staring at his eyes, his nose, his lips…Oh god. _He's F-I-N-E_, she thought. 

"There's your fortune", he said once he was done. He let go of her hand. She gave him a floppy grin and he gave her a wicked smile in return.

"Thanks." She put her hands in her pockets to prevent them from wrapping around his neck. She barely knew him, yet she was in lov-lust with him. 

"So, where do you people hang out?"

Lily laughed. 'Hang out' was a muggle term that she had never heard a wizard use. He was probably a half blood or a muggle born. "In Hogsmeade. It's a village close to the school. We take trips there every few months. But this year the rules changed, because we're in our 7th year. So, we can go to Hogsmeade any weekend."

"Really? Any good bars or restaurants?"

"The Hog's Head is a bar, but not many people go there. There's also 'The Three Broomsticks", which is sort of an inn. Then there is also Honeydukes, which sells candies and sweets."

"Really?" he raised an eyebrow. "Well, will you do something for me if I asked you?"

Lily chuckled. "Depends what it is that you're asking."

"Nothing too bad."

"Shoot."

He gave her a charming smile, and brushed her cheek. His mouth was a breath away from hers. Lily felt her heart accelerate even more. "Wanna go with me to Hogsmeade this Saturday?"  

This was just what she wanted. Rami to ask her out on a date. All she had to do was find some romantic, yet witty comment to make.

She grinned, finding the perfect words. "Why not?"

*-*-*-*-*-

Meanwhile, Nada made her way towards Bellatrix's table. Black was busy chatting with a Slytherin girl and two guys. _Not chatting…flirting_, Nada corrected herself. Bellatrix was a wicked witch who had the worst sense of sarcasm Nada had ever seen in a person. She was a pure Slytherin attitude and wit wise.

Once she reached Bellatrix's table, she tapped her fingers on it. Bellatrix stopped talking and looked up at Nada. 

"Hey, mind if we partner up?" Nada asked casually.

"She's my partner, Jaroud", said Florence, the Slytherin brunette. She was Bellatrix's partner in crime. Oh, how much Nada _hated_ her. 

Nada made a rude hand gesture to Florence, which caused the dazzling Slytherin to scowl. "Get lost, prat."

Bellatrix smirked. "Mind finding another partner, Florence?" she asked, not taking her eyes off Nada. That was the thing about Bellatrix that made Nada hate her even more. She always wanted to be on the winning side, to have an advantage in everything. 

"Whatever," Florence replied, glaring even more at Nada. She got up from her chair and moved to Nada's former seat. Nada smiled at her little victory and sat down in Florence's seat. She opened her book and began interpreting Bellatrix's palm. After she was done, they switched parts and Bellatrix interpreted Nada's. 

"So, why did you want to partner up with me this time?" Bellatrix asked once they had finished all their work. She was gazing at the quill she was holding in her hand as if there was something very interesting about it. 

"Lily found another partner to work with", Nada lied.

"Really now? But why me?"

"You _know_ exactly why."

"Why?"

"Because of your cousin, you dumbass."

"Now, now, watch your mouth, Jaroud. What did Sirius do this time?" She had a smirk on her pretty face, and still refused to look Nada in the eye.

"How do you know he did something? I just wanted to know where he was this summer."

Bellatrix raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I just do, god damn it."

"He was at Potter's house."

"Potter? James?"

"Is there any other Potter that you know of?"

"Well why didn't he ever write to me?"

"Jaroud, he doesn't like you anymore. Not even remotely."

Nada sighed and rolled her eyes. "Shut it, Black."

"You wanted to hear the truth, and I gave it to you."

"I'm sure you did. Listen, Black, I know that you must have a role in this whole ordeal. Since you barely ever talk to Sirius, you wouldn't know how he feels about me. And you always did seem to take a dislike in me."

"Wow. You're a clever one, aren't you?" she said, her lips curling to form a wicked smile.

"Clever enough to find out that you _and_ Rodolphus sold your soul to the dark lord, yes."

*********************************************************************************************

Lily entered the common room to find most of the Gryffindor students sitting at tables or by the fire and chatting with their friends. Nothing was wrong. Nothing _could_ go wrong. It was all too perfect. Unless the marauders started a riot all of a sudden that had to do with either Severus or McGonagall--the head of the house--or both combined along with a bed. In all three cases, however, Lily would soon abolish it by taking house points away from their own house. _Perfect_.

Lily had it all under control this year. The marauders couldn't do anything. No fighting with Severus in the halls between classes, no having food fights in the great hall, no hexing people in the corridor just for looking at them…none of that anymore. Since she was the Head Girl this year and had much more power than last year, she had decided to crush on every single prank of theirs. Also, James was Head Boy, meaning that he would get into trouble if he broke the rules too. _Excellent_.

However, Lily's wicked thoughts were soon interrupted with Nada yelling "Oy! Lily! Over here!" and waving at her from the other side of the common room. Lily made her way over to the couch beside the fire where Nada and Elina were sitting. 

"Hey", she said casually, sitting across from the two.

"How did the Prefect meeting go?" Nada asked.

"It went fine. I suggested that we have a dance before Christmas, but I was bombarded with disagreements from people wishing to visit their families during the break."

"Too bad. I wouldn't have minded one", Elina remarked.

"How did your little talk with Bellatrix go?" Lily forgot all about Nada and Bellatrix pairing up during Divinations until then.

"Not too bad. I guess." Elina and Lily exchanged quizzical looks, but didn't say anything.

*-*-*-*-*-

"…and guess what the big tomato said to the little tomato?" Sirius asked, laughing. He didn't wait for anyone to answer him, "Ketch-up! Get it, catch up?" and he started slamming his fist on the table from laughing too hard. 

James, however, had better things to do then listen to Sirius tell corny jokes. He was busy scanning the common room, thinking of a prank to pull on someone. _Anyone_. 

You see, ever since James had acquired the big, shiny badge that he was forced to wear every day, he had sensed a need to break the rules. A need even stronger than before. And the reason was that he would get away with anything that he did, because he was the Head Boy. Not only that, but his friends would also get away with what they did. He would never take house points off of them when they pulled pranks, and Lily couldn't do anything to stop them. _Excellent_.

Actually, now that he thought about it, a new plan started to form in his mind. This plan would have to make up for the beginning of year plan that they had never gotten to pull off. 

"Hey Wormtail, ready to turn into a mouse?" he asked Peter, keeping his voice barely above a whisper. Rami was sitting beside Sirius and had a look of mild amusement on his face.

"What? Why?" Peter responded. James grinned. He knew that Peter would do anything he asked him to do. Afterall, he was practically Peter's role model.

"Well, I plan on playing a little trick on our three girls" he jerked his chin in the direction that Lily, Nada and Elina were sitting. Peter looked over at them and grinned maliciously. 

James lowered his voice even further. "Here's the plan…"

*-*-*-*-*-

"Gabi was mentioning something this morning about you and Sirius…" Elina drawled.

"What? Oh that. About us spending last night together? Nothing big happened."

"Meaning…?" Lily commented.

"Nothing that we're going to regret later had happened." Lily sighed. Although Nada was what many would call…more experienced in the field of dating, she had much respect for herself and would never do something in a relationship without thinking it through beforehand.

Suddenly, the trio heard a loud shriek which seemed to have come from the table on their right. Lily turned to look at the two third year girls sitting at the table, and noticed what they were shrieking about. A _rat_.

Although Lily wasn't the type to be afraid of rats or any type of animal, she still got up and moved away from the table beside her. The rat was moving at a fast pace towards her, Elina and Nada. Nada and Elina followed her suit and got off the couch as fast as they could. The rat, however, kept going towards Lily. 

Let gaped and was about to scream, but was interrupted by someone bending down and picking the mouse up. It was James.

"What are you _doing_?" she asked, surprised. Practically everyone in the common room was looking in their direction, even the First Years, who didn't even know about the ordeal between the two.

"I'm picking up the rat", James replied, not looking up at her. He got back up, holding the rat by the tail. Lily shrieked as the rat tried to free itself from James' fingers. "Relax, Lil, it's just a rat. Not going to do anything to you."

"Sod off", she scowled. Not only was she annoyed by the fact that he had called her 'Lil', but also because he had used the rat as an opportunity to show off to her. The pompous pig!

James raised an eyebrow at her, and smirked his famous smirk at her. She scowled in return and walked off towards the girls' dorms, not daring to look back.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ok. End of chapter! Hehe. The next chapters gonna be great! Least I hope it is     ^_^

Also, one other thing. I thought that you guys might want to know what some of these names mean, incase you already don't. But yeah. I kinda didn't know what a few of them meant, and got a bit carried away with this site which gave the meanings behind names. LoL.

Gabriella= feminine form of Gabriel, the messenger from God

Nada=Arabic for generous

Elina= Finnish for the Greek name _Selen_, meaning moon.

Sirius= Constellation Canis Major. It was derived from the Latin word seirios, meaning "burning"

James=Derived from Latin word from the New Testament. Also mentioned as being the brother of Jesus.

Peter= Stone

Remus= The meaning is unknown. However, he was the co-founder of Rome

**Missy: **he-ey! you're the best! thank you muchly!!! *huggles for the 561st time* LoL, happy that you enjoyed it! =P

**Child-of-scorpio:** thanks a lot! And yeah, there will be fireworks ;) thanks!

**Padfootlet****:** hi! Thanks for reading! 

**Marrianna847: **hehe thanks for your review! And thanks for reading!

**Lydia****: **he-ey! you rock!!! Thanx! Hehe.

And here's a part from one of my favorite songs. I think it fits in very well with this story, particularly this chapter.

Maroon 5 - This Love

I'll fix these broken things  
Repair your broken wings  
And make sure everything's alright  
My pressure on your hips  
Sinking my fingertips  
Into every inch of you  
Cause I know that's what you want me to do


	5. The Day after Yesterday

Heya! Sorry I didn't post in a long time! I was so incredibly busy! Anyways, I wont be able to post this summer either, because im going on vacation. But I _promise_ ill post before September! I'm so sorry! I just wont have access to any source of internet during my vacation! Again, im _so sorry_!!!

So yeah. Here's the chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it! Knock yourselves out ;)

**Chapter Five:**

**The Day after Yesterday**

The first week of school seemed like an eternity to Rami. Not only did he seem a bit distant from all the other students in his year, but he also had a bit of trouble with all his classes. Well, most of them. But one great thing came out of moving to this new school, and that was that he was no more taunted by horrible memories.

As he lay in his bed in the quite, peaceful dorm, he couldn't help but think about his parents. His loving parents, who were both in Azkaban. What had droved them to doing what they did, he never found out.

The last thing he remembered that was remotely related to them was that his uncle had came to his house while Rami was home alone, and told him to pack his belongings and come downstairs when he was finished packing. Rami made no objections, seeing as how he hated the summer break, and assumed that the two of them were going on a vacation. He finished packing and went downstairs to find his uncle standing in front of a piece of newspaper, whispering something to himself. He told Rami that the newspaper was a portkey, and that the two were going to touch it at the same time in order for it to work. They did this, and were soon transported into a shabby hotel inside a wizard pub.

At the beginning, Rami was not even a tad bit curious about why they were in London. The next day, however, his uncle told him the reason why he was there, and not back in Belgium.

"Rami, you are aware that your parents are on Voldemort's side, yes?"

"Who's Voldemort?" Rami asked bluntly.

"He's an evil wizard who just recently rose to power. I'm surprised you've never heard his name before, seeing as how your parents were so close to him."

"What? So you're saying my parents were on the evil side? That's insane."

"It's the truth. And you're old enough to accept it. I was forced to take you to London after your parents were sent to Azkaban. You do know where Azkaba-"

"Azkaban??? They were sent to _Azkaban_?" Rami gaped. Azkaban was the worst punishment to possibly give to any wizard or witch. What had his parents done?

His uncle sighed. "They were convicted because of cruel torture made towards muggles and muggle-born witches and wizards."

Rami was too shocked to say anything. His uncle ordered him to rest for a while, and to enjoy London. He also informed him that he would now be attending a school called Hogwarts, since it was much closer to London than Durmstrang was.

-----

Rami wiped away a tear running down his cheek. He hated thinking about his parents, and how they had given up on him. They had never even wrote a letter in the months they spent in Azkaban. For that matter, they were barely ever even home months before they were sent to Azkaban. Rami started believing what his uncle had said, as painful as it was to accept.

But it had all changed now. Or it was _going_ to change. He was in a new school, had new friends, and was going to start a new life. It was the beginning of the beginnings, Rami thought to himself. His new friends were caring, and seemed to have a huge influence in the school. Plus, he had only been there for a week, and he already had a girlfriend.

_Well_, he thought as he took off his shirt due to the heat, _Lily Evans' isn't really my girlfriend_._ Not yet_. The two were to go on a date to Hogwarts the next day. Wicked.

However, Rami couldn't help but feel guilty. On the first day of school, he was informed that one of his first friends had a huge crush on Lily Evans. But Rami couldn't help it. What if he liked Lily, too? He had the courage to ask her on a date, and she said yes. As far as he saw it, it was James' fault he didn't ask Lily out sooner.

Rami's thoughts were soon interrupted by a knock on the door. He got up and dashed towards it, expecting to see the marauders with a whole lot of deserts from the kitchen. Instead he saw Lily Evans.

Lily was wearing a shirt too big for her and a pair of shorts. Her mouth was slightly open as her eyes examined his topless appearance.

"Seen enough?" he commented, smiling slyly.

Lily, who seemed to have just noticed that he was watching her, said, "Sorry I wasn't really _looking_ looking, I zoned out there for a couple seconds." She closed her eyes and mentally slapped herself.

Rami laughed. "I understand. Wanna come inside?"

"No. I don't want to disturb you guys."

"The marauders aren't here," I informed her, winking. "It's only me"

Lily seemed to be fighting the temptation to come inside. "It's ok. I'm fine here."

_She's a good girl, then_, he thought.

"I just wanted to ask you if our date is still on", she asked, smiling sweetly.

"Unless you have other plans, yes." He got the distinct impression that she never went on a date, since she didn't really seem to believe that he had asked her out.

"No, I don't. So ill see you tomorrow then, right?"

"Sure thing. 12 o'clock, right?", he smiled charmingly at her. Lily smiled back and left. There was a slight skip to her walk, which couldn't help but make him smile.

Rami sighed and returned to his bed. He flopped down on it and opened a book that James had let him borrow a few days ago: _One day in the life of a Quiddich superstar_. James seemed obsessed with the book and had told Rami that he used some of the ideas to train the quiddich team.

-----

James and Sirius entered the common room. James waved at a few of his fellow classmates as he and Sirius made their way towards the seventh year boys' dorm.

"Hey, Sirius", Brad Smith yelled from across the room. "Did you finish your Potions essay?"

"Of course not. I think ill just borrow Evans' tomorrow", Sirius replied unworriedly. James laughed.

"Evans wouldn't lend you her essay. She doesn't lend anyone her homework. _Ever_."

"Yes, Black. Unlike some people, I actually _have_ morals." James and Sirius turned around to see Lily Evans standing behind them, with her hands on her hips and a stern look on her beautiful face.

Sirius grinned his famous grin. "I do have morals, Lily dear. And one of my morals is that I don't eavesdrop on what others are saying."

"Well, its not really considered eavesdropping if you're talking about me. Besides, how could I not hear what you two were saying, seeing as how you were yelling across the common room?"

"_Tsk__, Tsk_, Lily. Don't raise your voice to _me_", he said coolly.

Lily looked like she was about to explode. She closed her eyes for a few seconds and tried to keep calm. When she reopened them, she gave Sirius and James a fierce look and said and walked off.

"Thanks, Black. Now she's angry at me too", James watched her leave the common room and go to her dorm.

"Well, she would've gotten angry at you sooner or later", Sirius shrugged, walking towards the dorm. "Where do you suppose Remus and Peter are?"

"Remus is most likely in the library, and Peter probably went with him as well", following Sirius. The two reached the boys' dorm and entered it. Rami was lying on his bed and reading James' book.

"Enjoying it?" James asked, glancing at the book.

"Apart from the fact that the main character is rather narcissistic, it's great", Rami responded. He closed the book. "Did you get anything from the kitchens?"

"Yup. Here", James said, giving him a butterbeer. "I got it off an elf. He probably got it in Hogsmeade."

"Hogsmeade, eh? Isn't that where students go on the weekends?"

"Yeah", Sirius responded for James. "Why don't you come with us? We're planning on picking up some girls at the pub."

"Sorry, I already have a date", Rami responded. He quickly regretted saying that.

"_What_? Who?" James asked, taking off his shirt to reveal a muscular body (A/N: drools).

"My thoughts exactly! You've only been here for a week and you've already got a date! You lucky…guy", Sirius said, grinning. "So who is it?"

"Well…it's a girl in our year", Rami replied casually.

"Who?!?!" James asked more urgently.

"We're fine as long as it's not Lily, eh James?" Sirius laughed.

Rami swallowed hard before saying, "Actually, it's Lily Evans."

* * *

Lily woke up early the next day from the sound of Nada's voice. Lily opened her eyes to see Nada and Marlene standing on their beds and yelling at one another.

"What's going on?" Lily asked, yawning. She looked at her alarm clock: 9:30.

"Marlene was telling me that Florence is going out with Sirius! The bitch!!!" Nada yelled, stomping her feet on her bed. She looked like she could kill.

"What? That can't be true. Sirius wouldn't ever date a Slytherin, let alone Florence. Maybe it was Regulus Black, his brother?" Lily commented. She got up from her bed and headed towards the restroom.

"Maybe. That would make more sense. Plus, weren't Sirius and Florence together two years ago?" Marlene said, yawning. Nada got even angrier.

"Does this mean that I've kissed the same guy that Florence kissed years ago?" she said, feeling somewhat nauseous. Marlene chuckled.

The 7th year Gryffindor girls had come up with their own plans on how to spend the day. Nada had proposed that they could go to Madam Puddifoot, and watch couples from their year and get the latest in gossip. Teresa, a vivacious roommate of theirs said that they should go to The Three Broomsticks and have some butterbeer. When asked for Lily's opinion, the redhead shrugged, saying that she had to go somewhere.

"With _who_?" Gabi asked her. Lily got the distinct impression that Gabi had read her mind.

"With…no one", she responded, not meeting her eyes.

"James?"

"_Potter_? Of course not!" Lily replied, outraged.

"Well it is someone, I can tell. How about Lupin?" Elina asked.

"Of course not. We're only friends."

"Sirius?" Nada added, giving Lily a glare.

"No, I wouldn't do that to you!"

"Lily…it isn't Peter, is it? I mean, I know the marauders are handsome…but Peter _isn't_", Gabi gave her friend a worried look.

"What? Who said im going with a marauder?" Lily said, quizzing them. __

"It's an assumption. Who else can it be? How about that new student…Rami?"

Lily didn't want to lie to her friends, yet didn't want to tell them the truth, either. She could just imagine Gabi saying how romantic it is, Elina telling her how it's much better than going with James, and Nada commenting on how cute he was.

"Well", she slowly responded, weighing the impact of each word before saying it, "he asked if I'd like to accompany him."

"So, in plain words…you're going on a date with him? How romantic! Lily and Rami, I can see it now!" Gabi said dreamily.

"Better Rami than James", Elina commented, curling her hair with her fingers.

"He's so cute and dreamy!" Nada smiled.

Lily raised her eyebrow at the three and asked them what she should wear for the occasion. Gabi thought that she should dress casually and wear a slight amount of makeup. Nada nodded and said she'd do Lily's hair, while Elina lent Lily some of her own makeup. Gabi quickly went through the redhead's luggage, trying to find the perfect thing for the occasion.

"Honestly you guys, you don't have to do all this for me", Lily said, blushing as red as a tomato.

"How can we not do something? It's got to be perfect! Besides, we don't have anything else to do…" Nada replied, smiling fondly at her friend.

It was almost afternoon by the time the trio had finished doing everything they could to Lily. Gabi had decided on letting her wear muggle clothing: a beige skirt that came an inch above the knee and a white blouse. Nada magically curled Lily's hair and instructed her to leave it down (seeing as how Lily had a knack for tying her hair in a messy bun). Elina gently applied a bit of makeup to Lily's already beautiful face, making her look even prettier. The three stepped away to admire their work.

Before Lily could thank the three for doing all they could, they heard a knock on the door. "I'll get it!" Nada said, grinning at Lily before dashing towards the door. She opened the door slightly, so that the rest couldn't see who the visitor was. Nada said something, laughed, turned to Lily and grinned even more. Lily smiled back and headed towards the door. She then opened it to see Rami standing there, looking like the deliciously hot person he was. (A/N: ok…that was _totally_ uncalled for, but who cares? Plus, since when is hott with a double "t" not a word?)

-----

"Hey", he smiled charmingly at her.

"Hi", she replied. She quickly closed the door and the two headed down the stairs. "By the way", she asked, "how did you get up the stairs? Boys aren't allowed."

"I have my ways. The Marauders taught me how", he answered, grinning.

_Damn the marauders_, Lily thought, as they entered the common room. The common room was filled with people, as usual. The 7th year students were getting ready for their trip, taking some of their younger friends with them. Lily noticed some of her own roommates sitting in a corner playing Exploding Snaps. She smiled.

The two left the common room and quickly made their way to the entrance hall. They then joined the queue of people being signed out by Professor McGonagall, occasionally catching each other's eye and grinning, but not talking to each other.

They left the entrance hall and walked in complete silence, which was only interrupted a few times by Rami's comments about the beauty of the school.

They left the gates and entered Hogsmeade, which looked perfect in autumn. Hogsmeade was quite, except for the occasional group of seventh year students who were heading towards the Hog's Head or the Three Broomsticks.

"So where do you want to go?" Lily asked, once they reached the High Street. Rami didn't answer quickly; he was too busy looking at a Quiddich shop. Lily chuckled, but didn't say anything.

"Well, where do _you_ want to go? This is the first time I've been here."

"How about The Three Broomsticks? Its where a lot of the students go during these visits. Plus, they have the best butterbeers ever!" Lily commented, pointing towards the entrance to The Three Broomsticks.

"Sure thing", he said, smiling. Lily smiled back, took his hand, and took him to The Three Broomsticks. The two entered the pub and found an empty table near the back. Lily sat across from Rami, who was busy scanning the pub. He then got up and went to buy drinks for the two, leaving Lily alone.

Lily searched the pub, looking for a familiar face. She noticed the Marauders sitting close-by. They were busy looking over what seemed like a parchment, and had a serious look on their faces. Lily noticed that Remus seemed to be saying something to James, but James interrupted him. He had a rather stressful look on his face.

Then, as if he had just noticed that Lily was sitting only a few tables away, James turned around to glance at her. Lily quickly looked away, breaking the eye contact. She didn't want him to think that she was spying on them.

"Here", Rami's voice interrupted her thoughts. She looked up to see that he was back, with two butterbeers in his hands. Lily quickly glanced at James, and saw an expression on his face that she'd never seen before; hurt.

She took one of the two drinks out of Rami's hand, and slowly drank it. "Is something wrong?" Rami asked, noticing that she seemed a bit distant.

"No. So, tell me more about yourself, Rami. Are you muggle-born?"

"Me? No. I'm a pure-blood, but I lived my life mostly as a muggle. I mean, I did things the muggle way, and had muggle friends. Are you muggle-born?"

"Yes. So what do you do in the summer?"

"I hang out with my muggle friends."

"But don't your parents mind? I mean, don't they want you to be with other wizards and witches?"

That was it. Lily had asked him the ultimate question, involving his parents. What was he to say? "My parents don't really care. They're too busy with their own things to care about me."

"Oh, im sorry", she said. She did look sorry, too.

"Its ok. I'm just not used to talking about them."

"So…are you enjoying Hogwarts?" Lily asked, changing the subject.

"It's better than Durmstrang, in a way. Plus, I have great friends."

"The marauders?" Lily asked, smiling. She seemed to be trying hard not to laugh.

"Yes. They're wicked."

"I'm sure they are. They have a knack for getting people on their side. I don't understand how they do it!"

"Its probably the fact that they're nice to everyone."

"_Nice_?" Lily looked as if she was about to explode.

"Yes, well, they're nice to everyone that I know. Why, are they mean to you?"

"Yes. Mostly Potter and Sirius."

Rami chuckled and took a sip from his drink. "Yes, well, they seem to talk much about you."

"What? So they _told_ you about me?" her eyes quickly darted to the table with the Marauders. Sirius caught her gaze and smiled charmingly at her. She rolled her eyes and looked away.

"A bit. They did talk about you, though. James seems to fancy you."

Lily took a few quick sips from her drink. "Unfortunately, he does."

"So what would you say if he asked you out?"

"I'd say no, like I did many times before. There's nothing more to say. Can we change the subject?"

Rami sighed. "Sure. What do you want to talk about?"

A new thought reached Lily's mind. "Can I ask you an honest question?"

"Shoot."

"Well, I don't mean to be rude…but did the Marauders tell you to ask me out?" she pointed her thumb at their direction.

"Huh? No. I asked you out myself, because I thought you were really sweet."

Lily blushed. "Thanks." The two then finished drinking their butterbeers in silence. Rami asked her if she wanted another one, but Lily politely refused. So the two left the pub afterwards, heading to nowhere in particular.

They walked towards the High Street, and passed many shops, entering only a few. They talked about different topics, including Quiddich and their teachers. Lily found Rami to be a great listener and talking to him seemed just like talking to her own friends. After they passed by most of the stores and their feet had started aching, they decided to sit down on a bench outside of Dervish and Banges. The sun was setting, and many of the students were returning to Hogwarts.

"So…" Rami said, thinking of what to say.

"Yeah." Lily responded. "I had a lot of fun today. Couldn't have been any better."

Rami chuckled. _The fun has barely begun_, he thought to himself. "Well, how would you like to end the day?"

"I don't know", she said, smiling. She got up, and so did he. "We better start heading back."

He smiled charmingly at her, his eyes boring into her's. He moved his head a bit closer to her's, and before she had any time to react, he kissed her.

His mouth closed the scant inches between them and came down on her's. Rami jerked her closer to him and lightly planted a kiss on her tender lips. Lily didn't pull away. She didn't want to. Her blood raced and her heart beat quickened. The kiss was slow and languorous. After some time did she become aware of how ridiculous her hands looked by her side. She clamped her arms tightly around his neck and inched closer. His scent filled her senses. The feel of his cheeks against her soft skin made her heart accelerated even more.

God. He was a good kisser. No, a _great_ kisser.

She made a move to withdraw her arms from his neck, but he pressed her closer, not allowing her to move. He kissed her more thoroughly, cupping her cheek and brushing her flushed skin with his thumb.

After what seemed like eternity to her, his tongue parted her lips. Lily immediately tried to direct his lips back to her's, but he pulled away and gently gripped her shoulder.

"Wow", was all Lily could say. Rami chuckled in response.

Meanwhile, James was busy watching the two, thinking of the different ways of which he could kill Rami.

* * *

Ok…sorry for the cliffy, but I just couldn't resist! LoL. plus, I wanted to keep you guys on the edge 'till the next time I posted! Hehe.

**amandil: **Hi! Thanks for reading! Well, about the whole deflating part…well he did deflate his head. But in my opinion, he'll deflate it more when he and Lily kinda get together. So yeah. He's a bit of an egotistical person now… huggles thanks for the review!

**Padfootlet: **Thanks! huggles to you, too

**Missers****:** LoL! omg, I swear, you like read my mind! giggles LoL. but yeah. thank you so much! I luv reading your replies! cookies and huggles

**marrianna847: **Hey! Thanks for the review! And I don't mind criticism, as long as its constructive! (how cliché is that? LoL) but anyways, about the fast pacing and stuff…I took your advice and kinda slowed down on this chapter. Or did I? wonders well, I think I did.

And about the whole Bellatrix thing…hmm, well I mentioned that Bellatrix seemed to want to be on the side that had the advantage. Plus, she kinda could tell that something was wrong. And Bellatrix doesn't seem like the type to wanna miss out on an opportunity to lower someone's self esteem ;)

Thanks a lot for the review! huggles


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